Gayathri Venkataraghavan at MA , 21 December 2017

[ratanabhinav]

One word : Wow
What a concert ! .
Venue : Music Academy , Chennai
Date : 21 December 2017
Time : 6:45 pm to 9:15 pm
Artists :
Gayathri Venkataraghavan (Vocal)
B.V.Raghavendra Rao (Violin)
B.Sivaraman (Mridangam)
D.V.Venkata Subramaniyam (Ghatam)

A- Alapana , N - niraval , S - kalpanaswaram ,
List :
1. Gurur brahma slokam ( nattai ) followed by Shakthi ganapathim ? - Nattai - rupakam - Muthiah Bhagavathar - S @ pallavi
2. Palaya mam vibho - Khamas - Adi - SwatiTirunal - A , N , S at nirajasama charana
3. Sri satyanarayanam - Shubhapantuvarali - rupakam - Mudduswami Dikshithar - A
4. Emi Neramu - Sankarabharanam - Adi - Tyagaraja - A,N,S at Devadevudani
5. RTP - Hindolam - Pallavi : Deva devam bhaje divyaprabhavam - Chatusra triputa talam , with first beat in tisre nadai , second beat in chatusra nadai , third in khanda nadai , fourth in misra nadai , fifth in sankeerna nadai , sixth in misra nadai , seventh in khanda nadai and eight beat in chatusra nadai . Ragamalika swarams in ranjani and bahudari.
6. Meera bhajan ? - Hindusthani raga

Amazing is the only word that comes to my mind .
Nattai is one of the ragas best suited for starting a concert . I feel it is made for starting a concert . Her voice was so melodious , well modulated and the melody was just flowing in cascades . The opening slokam was out of the world and captured the heart instantly . she brought out nattai very well and the kriti was rendered with swaras at pallavi . Violinist was really good this evening and he gave appropriate replies .
The khamas alapana was soul touching with its sliding and lilting sancharas . And the kriti was rendered in perfect kalapramanam . The niraval was at niraja sama charana followed by swaras .
3. Here came the first bomb for the day . Shubhapanturavali . What an alapana . The pathos was so moving and the alapana was structured beautifully and her glides at mel sthayi were wonderful . The kriti was rendered with so much bhava .
4. Here came the next wonderful rendition. Alapana of shankarabharanam was out of the world . The melody was just flowing and never ending . The sancharas were with lot of anuswaras , glides and her high pitch explorations were just exotic . Especially at mel sthayi panchamam and above . It is probably one of the best alapanas of sankarabharanam ever . The way she structured the alapana showed her musical prowess and maturity .
Her voice just glided over the notes and she produced phrases that were dripping with sankarabaharanam . Violin reply was marvellous and he was very adequate in accompanying her . He matched her prowess in all his replies .
Kriti and niraval , swaras too were very very wonderful .
Thani avarthanam too was enjoyable every moment and kept one at the edge odf the seat .
The thani was extremely pleasant and interesting to listen to
5 . RTP In hindolam
Aha oho . This was the killer item yesterday . Oh my goodness , what an alapana in hindolam it was !!!
The glides from mel shadjam to dhaivatham , the glide from g to s , the high pitch explorations and rendition at ati thara sthayi shadjam , yes you read that right ! She scaled such heights yesterday . She explored the ragam in mel sthayi and it was super duper wonderful . Thanam too was sung very well .
The pallavi was complicated and she handled it , with no loss in melody and soulfulness . Infact the niraval was extremely enjoyable. Swaras in ranjani and bahudari were very beautiful . Thani was played in this thalam and it was a great presentation .
All the artists were at the best . Probably one of the best concerts this season .
One word : It was aesthetics , melody and soul touching singing all around and all the time . Not a second was boring .

[sankark]

Sigh. Had to miss.

[sureshvv]

@ratanabhinav.. where were u seated? downstairs or balcony?

Seems like a nice double header yesterday.

[ratanabhinav]

Downstairs in the middle .
Nice double header ?

[ratanabhinav]

She went literally out of her way and her comfort zone to explore hindolam yesterday .

[grsastrigal]

Those who attended Gurucharan and GV must have had a head ache because of Kumudakriya RTP (by Gurucharan) followed by GV's S.P.Varali. Gurucharan also sang full song (from the review, here, I guess) after RTP. Both the raagams are very near and create so much of "pathOs", sort of "oh NO" for me !!

Nice reivew.

[ratanabhinav]

Those who attended Gurucharan and GV must have had a head ache because of Kumudakriya RTP (by Gurucharan) followed by GV's S.P.Varali. Gurucharan also sang full song (from the review, here, I guess) after RTP. Both the raagams are very near and create so much of "pathOs", sort of "oh NO" for me !!

Nice reivew.

In this matter , thodi is a big headache for me . Especially that gamakam at g follwed by ri . Only few artists like TNS , R Vedavalli , Semmagudi , TNR , GNB have managed to impress me . Else haiyo , i'll flee if thodi is started .......
But shubhapantuvarali , Im not allergic to it .

[grsastrigal]

From the review, I felt you were so carried away by Shubhapantuvarali, You mentioned mudduswamy dikshitar, out of sheer "mayakkam".... (தீக்ஷதர் நைட் வீட்டுக்கு வந்து கண்ண குத்தப் போறார்)

[ratanabhinav]

From the review, I felt you were so carried away by Shubhapantuvarali, You mentioned mudduswamy dikshitar, out of sheer "mayakkam".... (தீக்ஷதர் நைட் வீட்டுக்கு வந்து கண்ண குத்தப் போறார்)

I am very much impressed by shubhapantuvarali . The pathos is touching and the raga is very appealing to me and I feel like how I feel after I have had a huge outburst of tears , and additionally , the raga creates an aura of midnight .It is mysterious and enchanting . and gives goosebumps especially at thara sthayi - when the sanchara ' ri ga ri sa ma ga ri sa ni ' is sung .
Don't understand your comment about MD poking my eyes .

[ratanabhinav]

I guess i'm not allergic to shubhapanthuvarali cos it hasn't got that gamakam at ga .
But im extreeeemly allergic and repelled by varali . Yikes . Once again , nadaswara pidis are the ones that impress me and certain kritis like edi janmam idi and kanakanaruchira have moved me beyond words .

[ratanabhinav]

One thing that I love about her music is that there are no konangis , apaswaras , weird noises , excess of anything , exclusive show of super slow or super fast music . One can't even imagine GV singing like that

[Sundara Rajan]

I guess the joke about MD poking eyes relates to spelling Muthuswami as Muddduswamy !

[ratanabhinav]

I guess the joke about MD poking eyes relates to spelling Muthuswami as Muddduswamy !

In sangitha sampradaya pradarshini , he is mentioned as Mudduswamy Dikshithar . In telugu , it is Mudduswamy Dikshithar and so many people refer to him that way . Please correct me if I am wrong .
And dikshithar was a jivanmuktha , he wouldn't have any ego and I don't think he would choose to harm me and seek vengeance even if I hurt him with words , though I would never even think of slightest of such things.

[kvchellappa]

That is an old controversy. G S Mani sir said that T K Govinda Rao has done some research and concluded that Mudduswamy is correct. They also quote Subbarama Dikshithar. Nevertheless, Muthuswamy is the common Tamizh pronunciation. I am not aware of any Mudduswamy among Telugu or Kannada people. MD, I presume, was a Tamizh. I know of one Muthuswamy in Bengaluru. He spells the name as Muthuswamy. I never bothered whether he is Kanndiga or Tamizh person. So, it is Muthuswamy for Tamizh people and Mudduswamy for Telugu people. In any case, his krithis are mispronounced. We can make do with name also! It is like Gayathri in the South (but for Gayatri of R&G, probably because she was in Mumbai) and Gayatri in the North.

[ratanabhinav]

The original script in which Sangita sampradaya pradarshini was written by Subbarama Dikshithar , in Telugu , mentions his name as ' Mudduswamy Dikshithar ' in telugu script and is translated as ' Mudduswamy Dikshithar ' in English version also . That was my basis .

[arasi]

Sundara Rajan,
Yes, and it was amusing!
A matter of wavelengths too, don't you think ?

[arasi]

To his mother, was he enta 'muttO', enta sogasO? Was he precious to her?
Or, moddu, enRu mottinALO? Did she pelt him by calling him a dunce?
Folks, this is some unknown Muthu (Muddu)swamy I am referring to. Not the one among the Trinity, heaven forbid

[Sundara Rajan]

I was only guessing about the reason for the statement "தீக்ஷதர் நைட் வீட்டுக்கு வந்து கண்ண குத்தப் போறார்". If the reason is something else, the original post author grsastrigal only can explain. I have personally no qualms between Muthuswamy and Mudduswami. I am used to all sorts of miss pronunciations of names. My original long name N.R. Sundararajan was commented upon by white Americans as one "ra" too many ! At the time of U.S.citizenship application I changed it to Sundara Rajan. Still many Indians address me as Sunderrajan.

[arasi]

Exactly! So, what's in a name? What the pearl-like precious composer brought us will suffice...

[grsastrigal]

See my review of Sanjay -vani mahal- I follow your foodsteps..

[HarishankarK]

Those who attended Gurucharan and GV must have had a head ache because of Kumudakriya RTP (by Gurucharan) followed by GV's S.P.Varali. Gurucharan also sang full song (from the review, here, I guess) after RTP. Both the raagams are very near and create so much of "pathOs", sort of "oh NO" for me !!

Nice reivew.

Gurucharan singing any ragam is headache for me
GV is much greater than him-no comparisons